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Blog Tour – Master of Sorrows by Justin Call

Good morning my loves!

I hope you’re having a great day so far. I know I certainly am. I have lectures all day on Saturday and so I’m taking tomorrow off work to make sure I still get my weekend. So today is my last day in work for the week! Today is my stop on the blog tour for the first book in a new fantasy series by Justin Call, Master of Sorrows.

About the book

You have heard the story before – of a young boy, orphaned through tragic circumstances, raised by a wise old man, who comes to a fuller knowledge of his magic and uses it to fight the great evil that threatens his world. But what if the boy hero and the malevolent, threatening taint were one and the same? What if the boy slowly came to realize he was the reincarnation of an evil god? Would he save the world . . . or destroy it? Among the Academy’s warrior-thieves, Annev de Breth is an outlier. Unlike his classmates who were stolen as infants from the capital city, Annev was born in the small village of Chaenbalu, was believed to be executed, and then unknowingly raised by his parents’ killers. Seventeen years later, Annev struggles with the burdens of a forbidden magic, a forgotten heritage, and a secret deformity. When he is subsequently caught between the warring ideologies of his priestly mentor and the Academy’s masters, he must choose between forfeiting his promising future at the Academy or betraying his closest friends. Each decision leads to a deeper dilemma, until Annev finds himself pressed into a quest he does not wish to fulfil. Will he finally embrace the doctrine of his tutors, murder a stranger, and abandon his mentor? Or will he accept the more difficult truth of who he is . . . and the darker truth of what he may become . . .

My thoughts

I do love a good fantasy. Especially this time of the year when the days are shorter and the nights are darker. When this stunning proof arrived on my doorstep, it was all I could do not to pick it up immediately. Beautifully designed and floppy (who doesn’t love a floppy paperback?!)

I have seen many trusted reviewers talk about this book really positively. They say that it is reminiscent of classic fantasy from authors like Brandon Sanderson and Brent Weeks. Now, I cannot pretend that I am well versed in the land of fantasy books, having recently only dipped my toe into the genre with The Poppy War by R F Kuang. What I can tell you though, despite this, is how this book made me feel.

Master of Sorrows is an epic debut and the start to a series that I will definitely be continuing on with. The pacing was one of my favourite things about this book. It was paced just so, the story didn’t drag and there were no points where I was wishing for something to happen, but it didn’t move so fast that I had trouble keeping up with what was going on. I find this is something an issue with debut fantasy novels, where authors are trying to find their feet, but this book was just brilliant at that. This one definitely gets 4/5 stars from me.

I don’t want to give anything away about this book other than I really, really enjoyed it and will definitely be picking up the next book in The Silent Gods series when it hits the shelves. The ending of this book left me reeling and now I can’t believe I have to wait until the next one comes. I guess that’s one of the drawbacks of being lucky enough to get your hands on proofs! Huge thanks as always to Gollancz and Orion for sending this beauty my way!